Young wins golf state championship

Chris Young didn’t know he needed to make the birdie putt on the last hole to win the state championship. Without knowing the score of the other golfer, he just had a feeling that it was close.

“I was leading by one stroke after the first day. I was just focused on my round and was trying to stay consistent,” Young said.

His dad Adam Young was also in the dark as to the score since he was following closely behind his son. To find out how close he was, he sent a text to the White Pine High School golf coach Randy Long asking where Chris sat in the standings. According to Long, he knew Chris was within one shot of the title on the final green, but he waited until Chris set up for his potentially state-championship winning birdie putt to text Adam back.

“He told me after the tournament that he was glad that I waited because he would have been too obviously nervous following Chris to the green,” Long said of their secret conversation.

Once the ball fell in the hole, Adam let out a “guttural” scream and ran to Chris.

With a final score of 149 over the two days of golf, he beat Incline golfer Mitchell Cornell’s 150 to claim his first individual state title.

“I was hitting the ball straight and was staying out of trouble,” Young said, of his overall performance in the meet.

Former state champion and White Pine golfer Ty Pickell finished his golfing career for the high school in third place at the Pahrump meet on Thursday. White Pine placed third overall by one stroke in the tournament, behind Battle Mountain and state winner Needles.

Though Long is losing two starting seniors, Pickell and Nick Johnson, he said the future looks bright with his large base of freshman and sophomores.

“I’ve said all season that we are a young team,” Long said. “But with Chris’s brother joining the team. we’ll be twice as Young.”